The Extraction

John Wayne didn't play this one.
Mathematics did:

forty-eight men to go,
one chopper in the flight shot down.

Each surviving bird, in turn,
settled among the incoming shells
to take an overload of casualties,
classified gear,
and evacuees
till rescue reached capacity.

Two Viet Namese, two Americans
kept some extra ammunition
and maybe a wish for one more sortie;

they held six shattered bunkers
eroding from the hilltop
under mortar fire.

When things fell quiet in late evening,
they chatted with base camp by radio.

But their sign-off was hard to copy
over the rattle of rifle fire.

The logbook reads:
2100 hours --
Dogpatch, this is Red Dog four.
They're coming through the wire